JOIN USPak court grants bail to plotter of Mumbai attacks
The anti-terrorism court in Pakistan granted bail to LeT operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a key planner of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, despite evidence against him in the case which was nearing its end, prosecution said on Thursday.
The court move comes two days after Pakistan Taliban massacred 132 children and nine staffers at a Peshawar school. The prosecution said they will challenge the decision.
“As the trial was nearing conclusion, the Anti-Terrorism Court in Islamabad today (Thursday) granted bail to Lakhvi, despite evidence against him,” said prosecution chief Chaudhry Azhar.
As seven judges of the Mumbai case have been replaced since the start of the trial in 2009, Justice Kausar Abbasi Zaidi is the eighth one holding the in camera proceedings at Adiala Jail Rawalpindi due to security concerns.
“We have so far produced 46 witnesses in the court who testified against all seven accused - Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum. Only 15 more witnesses have to testify against them in the coming days. And the trial is likely to be concluded in three to four weeks,” he said.
The 46 witnesses included the officials of the Federal Investigation Agency, Crime Investigation Department, National Database Registration Authority, government doctors and people who have testified against the accused for running training camps, bank transactions, giving directions over the phone to some of the 10 terrorists operating in Mumbai and buying inflatable boats used for transporting the terrorists.
The prosecution lawyers, including Chaudhry Azhar, had received threats from Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD). JuD is led by Hafiz Saeed, who is on India’s most wanted list for masterminding the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people during a 60-hour siege in November 2008.
The prosecution had recently filed an application in court seeking trial through
video-link.